Unravelling the mystery — Chris Hani investigator accused of covering up Simelane murder

Andrew Leask, one of the first investigating officers to assist the Directorate of Special Operations (the Scorpions) with TRC probes, spent years trying to piece together who was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of student and covert ANC courier, Nokuthula Simelane in 1983.

And while his investigations were conducted more than 22 years ago and came to nothing, Leask’s memory of the atrocity and those implicated remains clear. He began investigating the matter in 1996, and was later instructed in 2011 to hand over the comprehensive docket to none other than Captain Mike Holmes.

Gunning for ANC leadership

On Wednesday, 25 January 2026 at the Khampepe Commission of Inquiry into TRC prosecutions delays, the investigator also set out how former SAPS Commissioner Johan van der Merwe had contacted him in 2004 wanting to offer “an opportunity to make available information or evidence that could assist in establishing a criminal case against the leadership of the ANC”.

Van Der Merwe and a Mr Wagenaar, legal representative of the implicated generals and former senior apartheid SAPS officials, had told Leask that documents and statements had been obtained and that Wagenaar was working on these. However, Leask was never contacted again by either man.

Asked whether advocate Chris Macadam – who replaced advocate Anton Ackerman at the Priority Crimes Litigation Unit (PCLU investigating TRC cases) – had instructed Leask to obtain any documents mentioning former President Thabo Mbeki from Van Der Merwe, Leask replied that Mbeki’s name had never come up.

Leask also informed the panel that many of the those involved in atrocities, including the murder of Simelane, were still alive.

Eliminating the witness

Leask told the inquiry that in 1991, two years before the Hani assassination by Janusz Waluś, suspicions had been raised about Holmes’ role the killing of Adriano “Strongman” Bambo, who had witnessed the horrific torture of Simelane.

The 23-year-old student at the University of Swaziland had first been held captive for a week in a rooftop room used by the security police at the Norwood police married quarters in Johannesburg. She was guarded 24 hours a day while security policemen Willem Coetzee and Anton Pretorius took turns assaulting her.

When her screams grew too loud, disturbing the neighbours, Simelane was driven to a remote farm in Westonaria where she was held in a small outbuilding for more than a month under 24-hour armed guard.

A bag was placed over her head, she was given electrical shocks and was dragged one night and thrown into a “Zinc dam” to recover between bouts of assaults. She was last seen in December, bound, battered and bruised, in the boot of Coetzee’s car.

Bambo, an askari (a turned liberation fighter) was “taken out” – shot dead – while being “escorted” by a Captain Koekemoer of the East Rand Robbery Unit and Holmes to point out a “planted” arms cache in 1991.

Just hanging around

The late Holmes had once headed the notorious Brixton Murder and Robbery Unit and had had links to Koekemoer as the two had worked together in the past.

Koekemoer, once described by Vlakplaas Commander Eugene de Kock as a “good investigator”, was approached by members of Vlakplaas about eliminating Bambo, said Leask.

While Holmes was not the assigned investigating officer in the Simelane matter after Leask had been asked to hand over his extensive dockets to Priority Crimes Unit head Inspector Neville Thoms, the detective seemed hang around the office, which was “a nodal point” for TRC investigations at the time.

Leask had hoped his investigations into Simelane would be taken further to link high-ranking officials to apartheid-era atrocities, including a broader probe into General Izak Johannes “Krappies” Engelbrecht, the former head of Counter Intelligence.

Years later when the original Simelane docket was relocated after having gone “missing”, it was found that no statements had been taken by Captain Holmes.

‘Taken out’ while allegedly pointing out an arms cache

Bambo, who was a well-known criminal and armed robber, had been initially arrested by Koekemoer. He had somehow escaped, perhaps aided, said Leask, and had been rearrested by another investigator.

There was a fear that should Bambo be arrested after another murder and robbery spree he might pose a “potential risk” to those in the security police responsible for Simelane’s abduction and murder.

“What happened is that Koekemoer had arranged on a Monday for a warrant officer, a junior, to book Bambo out saying he had information that he was involved in arms smuggling and needed to do a point-out.”

On the previous Sunday, preparation for a Dead Letter Box – a secret location used to pass on items or information, such as one used for a hidden arms cache – was done before Bambo was booked out by the warrant officer accompanied by Koekemoer and Holmes.

Bambo was “taken out” – murdered – while allegedly pointing out the cache, with Koekemoer claiming the suspect had attempted to detonate a hand grenade and attack him.

Eugene de Kock was the former commander of the Vlakplaas unit that employed asakaris and who ran the Vlakplaas killing headquarters.

De Kock was sentenced on 121 charges of murder. He was released on parole in 2015. The Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture heard how former president Jacob Zuma’s government had supported De Kock financially, paying him R40,000 a month and providing a safe house on his release.

“Operation Lock” was overseen by Zuma’s Minister of State Security, David Mahlobo, the Zondo Commission heard. Mahlobo has since distanced himself from these allegations.

Read more: Former state security minister David Mahlobo distances himself from apartheid assassin and Jacob Zuma ‘poisoning projects’

Advocate Gerrie Nel, for Leask, told the commissioners: “We are concerned there is a link or a question mark over Mike Holmes given that according to your evidence in chief, members of Vlakplaas consulted with Koekemoer.”

Leask replied that “what stood out was just that no detective would come to a police station and involve themselves”, as Holmes had done with Koekemoer.

Asked by Nel whether there had been any arrest or movement on the Bambo matter, Leask replied that he had been informed that the Director of Public Prosecutions in Pretoria had declined to prosecute.

“As we speak to you today we are not aware of any arrests or movement in that matter?”

“No,” replied Leask.

The commission was told that despite clear evidentiary links between the Bambo and Simelane cases, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) and the National Prosecuting Authority had been reluctant to cooperate with the Simelane’s lawyers regarding Bambo, claiming the family lacked a formal power of attorney from his family. DM